Outghersz, Jan

Jan Outghersz (fl. 1598 - 1600) was a Dutch mariner, pilot, and chartmaker. Despite nothing being known of his birth or death, he is an important figure: he was the author of the first reliable chart, with sailing directions, of the Strait of Magellan. He piloted Geloof, the flagship of Sebald de Weert, (1567 - 1603) on his abortive 1598 - 1600 attempted circumnavigation. Although the expedition passed through the Strait of Magellan, weather proved a constant foe and the flotilla lost 120 crew members to the weather and skirmishes with Patagonian natives. When Mauritius, commanded by Olivier van Noort, passed through the Strait, de Weert's survivors were so weak that they could not keep up with van Noort's fleet, and were forced to return to the Netherlands, arriving in 1600. Outghersz would publish his charts of the Strait with Zacharias Heyns the following year; Jodocus Hondius would incorporate these in a beautiful chart of the Strait in 1606.